The Land of Beginning A Love that Flows Down like a Waterfall
by SuzunoKoi
Summary: Yukari Minase comes to live with her cousin Ki Kotoharu one day, reuniting them for the first time in three months. The day after that, Allen arrives in Echo Village in pursuit of becoming a beautician. He and Yukari begin to work together and soon develop feelings for each other.


**The Arrival of a Family Reunion Between Two People**

**The Point of View of a Young Farmer**

Now that I think about it, I haven't been home in three months. I decided to come here when I left my hometown, to a village called Echo Village. Sounds like a peculiar name for a village, huh? It's just like the name suggests; it mirrors the remains of the town. Echo Village has been through a rough time for over twenty years now—twenty-three years, to be more precise. Before those twenty-three years of hardship that it's gone through, it used to be a peaceful and blooming village full of people, and it even had a successful economy. Things changed during the years that passed by afterwards, though, and what used to be a lively village has now become a worn-down place with only a farm, its land, a forest with a mountain range, a spring at the summit of the mountain, and the rest of the village. That's about all there is Echo Village, so there isn't much left to it. Most of the villagers have moved out, but old man Dunhill wants to bring back what he calls the "glory" of how Echo Village used to be. I mean, it's not like I'm against the idea of having some more people moving here. In fact, I love it! But to tell you the truth, I'm not sure how we can do that, or if me being here is really going to do anything to help the situation. I'd really like Dunhill's goal to be achieved somehow, but there's only been a few people who've come to move in since I arrived—except for Neil, if he even counts since he came back within a few days. After that, Iroha, a female blacksmith came; then, Rebecca and her son Toni moved in. We had to gather materials and build their house. Neil was nice enough to help me. It still surprises me that he knew how to build one, but I guess it's not much _of_ one since he and I took classes on construction; I took some in college, and he's had more experience during high school before he went to college. There's also Tina; she was the next one to come to the village after Neil and I had to build her house—the Newspaper Carrier. She's mostly in for the "scoop" of the town, but she's also a really friendly person.

Anyway, I've also been thinking lately about what's happen since I came to Echo Village.

During the three months that I've been here, I've basically farmed and tilled the land around the farmland that was… well, I can't say that it was exactly "abandoned" by the owners. The farm doesn't actually belong to me, but to some of my other relatives that I've known since I was a kid. I think it'd be better to introduce myself first before I get deeper into the background of my relatives' farm. My name's Ki Kotoharu, and I came to Echo Village because I had an interest in farming. You know, planting and harvesting crops, raising animals—stuff like that. Anyway, I mentioned a few moments ago that the farm I'm working on belongs to my relatives, and it happens to belong to my uncle-in-law's side of the family, so… I wasn't really the one who was going to inherit it. In fact, this farm and all of its land belongs to the Minase family.

Huh? Who are they, you ask? I just _told_ you, didn't I? Sigh. Fine. I'll tell you a bit more about them, but don't ask questions after this, okay?

Back to where I left off… The Minases are an old family who came from this village. That's right. They've been around for thousands of years, or so. They're also a family of wealthy farmers, which is pretty amazing, if you ask me. Since my uncle-in-law is a direct descendant of the Minase family, he carries the family name. I don't really know much about his family, but I have a cousin who's _another_ direct descendant of the Minases.

Giving yet another sigh, I put the back of my right arm against my forehead, which was full of sweat by now, just like the rest of my body. Working all day from early morning to past noon in the heat of a nearing summer day took more effort and endurance than I had ever handled since I came here. With the bottom of the hoe I bought three months ago under the palm of my left hand, I was already looking up at the sky.

"Yuka-nee," I said aloud. I was already thinking about my older cousin who, as I told you before, is a direct descendant from my uncle-in-law's family. Man, I really missed the company of seeing her, though. Yuka-nee and her parents took care of me while I was growing up due to the fact that my mom was always busy, and my older sister had to learn things from my grandma. "It feels like I've been away for three years, instead of three months."

Just then, I heard someone call out to me.

"My, working hard again today, Ki?" It was Emma's voice.

I turned around and saw her smiling as always. Emma was in charge of shipping, so she's been a great help to me while I was trying to earn some money from my harvests and products from my farm animals.

"Emma! It's already after noon, but why are you here?" I was surprised at her sudden visit.

Emma gave off a frown. "Did you forget _again_? You should be taking a lunch break at this time. A fine young man like yourself needs to eat some food during the day."

"Well…" I put my right hand on the back of my head, unsure what to tell her.

Then, she smiled. "Oh, don't worry. If you're low on expenses right now, I can get you something to eat. How about having lunch with Aunty Emma?"

"You don't have to do that for me. I was just looking at the sky, that's all. It's not like I _wasn't_ going to eat lunch or anything. I was just relaxing a bit, Emma, so you don't have to go through all that trouble just to prepare some food for me."

Another frown.

"Ki, you should try to spend some more time with the adults. It's not that bad to try and eat with me, Rebecca, Hana, or Dunhill, is it?"

"Ahaha…" I tried giving a smile but it felt like it was going to fall apart within a matter of seconds, seeing as I was giving off a sweat drop. "Sorry, but I just wanted to eat lunch inside the house after a few."

"Oh, alright. Just tell me if you ever want to eat at my place, okay?"

I nodded. "Sure thing."

Looking back at the sky, I felt as though something good was about to happen. So, I couldn't help but smile for some reason. It seemed like a really great day all of a sudden, as if I was going to see Yuka-nee soon.

Later that day, I was letting my hair dry. I had just taken a shower and was fully clothed with a towel around my neck. As I was heading to my room, I heard the doorbell ring.

_Who could it be at this time? _I thought.

It was six in the evening and yet someone was already at my door. But… who was it?

When I went to open the door, there was a familiar figure. Yes. It was someone I knew, someone I was really looking forward to seeing since my arrival in Echo Village three months ago.

It was…

"Yuka-nee?!" I was taken aback by the sudden arrival of my older cousin, Yukari Minase; she was wearing a yukata (a summer kimono) and she looked very beautiful, as always. But most of all, I was certainly surprised at seeing her in front of me. Nothing had changed since we last saw each other, but as usual, I had to ask another stupid question. "Umm… What are you doing here, Yuka-nee?"

Her eyes slightly widened as she blinked. "What do you mean, Ki? Didn't I tell you before?" She gently placed her right hand on my (right) shoulder and pushed me inside as she made her way into the house. "I was going to check on you after a few months since you said you wanted to make it on your own. I even let you come here before I did since you wanted to do this so much."

I closed the door and turned around. "Huh? Oh, that's right. Sorry, Yuka-nee. I just forgot about it during the time I was working on the farm. So, uh…"

Yuka-nee stopped and didn't take a glance at me at all, staring at the kitchen wall instead, which was right next to the bathroom.

"Ki," she began, "have you been helping improve the village while I wasn't here?"

I nodded and replied back. "Um… yeah? Dunhill asked me to help him with restoring Echo Village back to its former glory. Is something wrong with how it is?"

"No." Again, she didn't even take a look at me and kept staring at the same spot over and over. "It's just that the way the town is, it doesn't seem like Dunhill understands what the 'former glory' of Echo Village is supposed to be. The town seems to be earning a 'new glory' instead, with all of the renovations he's had you do during your stay here. None of the previous residents have come back here since the fall of the economy here began, now, have they?"

I frowned Yuka-nee's words were sinking into my mind. "Well, no, but… It's not like it's going to be exactly the same as how it was twenty-three years ago. Things are still in the process of changing, after all."

That's when I caught a glimpse of a smile forming on Yuka-nee's face.

"And that's why I'm proud of you, Ki," I heard her say as she turned around to face me.

My eyes widened at seeing her smiling face. "Huh? Yuka-nee—do you mean…?"

"That's right," my cousin kept smiling. "You've been working so hard all this time. How could I not be proud of you? You're a part of my family, Ki."

I could feel myself about to burst into tears when I heard those words. "Yuka-nee…"

"The village has changed so much since I was last here; it's almost as if this wasn't even Echo Village at all, except for the farm." Her expression became softer and she continued. "Oh, come on. Don't cry, Ki. I haven't seen you this emotional since your school days."

"But I can't help it," I responded with the same tears that were forming. They were already falling down by the time I had answered. "I've missed hearing from you all this time, Yuka-nee…! It was really hard at first, but I was so lonely without hearing from anyone at home and I tried to endure it, because you said you would come to see me, and you finally came…!"

I couldn't see it through my blurry tears, but I was sure that Yuka-nee was still smiling.

"Of course I did," she told me. "I never said I wouldn't come here." She walked toward me as I wiped my tears with the back of my hands. Then, I felt her place her right hand on my backside and she added, "Come on. Let's eat together. I also heard that you had just finished building a salon with Neil. It's near where he works, right? I caught a glimpse of it when Dunhill showed me what the town looked like after I arrived."

I nodded, still trying to recover from my teary expression. "…Yeah."

"I still can't believe you two decided to build it on the top of the side of the cliff, too!" she went on. "Neil's going to have to look at it every now and then; he also complained about having to catch sight of it from the left side of his face while facing forward. It was such a sigh to see, Ki. You should have been there! Anyway, have a seat and I'll start preparing dinner. Is miso soup fine with you? I'll serve the dinner we usual eat together when you lived with us."

With another nod, I smiled happily. "Yeah!"

I couldn't wait. I would be spending time with Yuka-nee again just like old times. Someone new would probably move in by tomorrow because Dunhill would always bring in a new resident the morning after their house is build starting from the time Neil and I had put together Tina's place.

Little did I know that things were going to change from this evening on. I wasn't sure what was going to happen at the moment, but it felt as if something was beginning to change when Yuka-nee arrive at the door. Whatever it was, it was probably something for better… or for worse.

That was all I could think of but I didn't have a care in the world with all the emotions I had gone through, and I was really happy—happier than I had even been. What exactly was going to happen? I might have been trying to ignore anything that could ruin this happiness, but I think deep down, I was feeling very anxious about it.


End file.
